Read Online Connections by Amber Bourbon - Free Book Online Page B

he’d been looking for. He wasn’t sure if he’d really found it. Whatever he had discovered though was what he needed after all this time, and the years of heartbreak and living in the shadow of his brother.

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
     
    The sky was still dark when Shayla opened her eyes, feeling Zach arms holding her. She couldn’t remember a time when she felt so safe in a man’s arms. She had never felt that way with Brad, not that they’d had many nights where he actually held her.
    Her stomach twisted as she thought about him, everything she’d done with him, for him. She took a moment to study Zach’s face while he slept, the way his lips were parted slightly and body breathed.
    His lips looked so kissable, she was tempted to give in and kiss him. Yet even though she was drawn to him in so many ways, she knew that now was not the time. The sun was aching to kiss the sky, just as much as she was aching to kiss him.
    Not here. She couldn’t stay here a minute longer then she really had to. She pushed herself off the bed, trying to let him sleep as she looked around for everything she had brought with her.
    Zach sat up, his eyes heavy with sleep. “Shay?”
    “ Hey, I didn’t want to wake you.” She pulled a t-shirt on and looked around for her jeans.
    “ It’s alright.” He stood up, stretching his athletic body.
    “ The first train leaves soon. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”
    “ Are you going to tell me what the problem is?”
    Shayla pulled on her jeans and socks, “My Mother, I just need to get away from her. She’s the reason I don’t normally come back home. I just can’t deal with her, and the secrets.”
    Zach just nodded, knowing that she would talk, if and when she wanted to. “Yes, well I will have to escort you then if are serious about going out this early in the morning.”
    She threw the last few items into a bag and pulled her sneakers on, “How did I get so lucky?”
    “ You took the right train back here, that’s how.” He smiled as he grabbed her bag. “Are you going to leave a note?”
    Shayla sighed as she realized he was right, “I guess I should.”
    “ I’ll meet you outside.”
    “ Thank you.” Her hand reached out gently brushing against his for a moment before she pulled it back.
    Zach opened the door, the glow of the hallway night light behind him. “Anytime, Shay.”
    She looked around the room for a piece of paper, finally pulling open her bag and ripping off the cover of a script.
    Had to go back to the city, I need to prepare for work.
    She tossed the note on the kitchen table on her way out of the house, meeting Zach on the front porch.
    Taking in one final look of the house, she felt like she was finally free of some dark cloud that had been over her for as long as she could recall.
    They walked in silence, thankful as the sun came out and the birds started to sing. Shayla purchased her ticket from the machine and looked over at Zach, “Thank you, I know I’ve said it already, but I need to say it again.”
    “ I have a meeting, Wednesday with my agent, so I have to be in the city. Um, would you like to have lunch?”
    Her stomach twisted with butterflies and nerves, “I would love that.” She just had to get this Brad situation under control, once it was, she would be ready to give into her real feelings for Zach.
    “ I’ll call you.” He kissed her, softly, intimately in a way that surprised himself and her.
    “ You better.” She teased as the heard the train nearing. “Don’t let Carter and Eva get to you.”
    “ Easier said than done.” He started to back away, even though he really wanted to just go with her. “Safe journey.”
    Shayla blew him a kiss before grabbing her bags and boarding the train. She sat in the first available seat she saw, chewing on her lower lip as she for the first time since yesterday afternoon had a moment to really think about what had happened.
    Her mother had lied to her, all of her